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Gran Colombia Night
It's the 13th November 1861, but not *our* 13th November 1861. In this alternate universe, today is Gran Colombia Day, the 50th anniversary of the formation of Gran Colombia. In Tenochtitlán City (Mexico City in our reality), people are celebrating in the streets with fireworks or in bars with beer, rum, or tequila. In a wrestling ring in the middle of the Bar Azteca in Tenochtitlán City, people in various states of intoxication are getting ready for a special Gran Colombia Day wrestling match between two famous luchadores: El Serpiente Negro (The Black Snake), the best known luchador in Bogotá; and El Tigre de Plata (The Silver Tiger), the best known luchador in all of Gran Colombia. After the announcement of the contestants, the bar patrons do their level best to stand at attention for the national anthem, "Viva Gran Colombia," some wavering from too much booze. As the contestants circle each other, El Tigre de Plata is about to clothesline El Serpiente Negro... ...when we cut to the restored Templo Mayor of the Aztecs, in the middle of the fully restored Old Town Tenochtitlán. El Bigote (The Moustache) and his Enanitos Terribles (Terrible Little Dwarves) have ascended to the top of the temple, where the Enanito known as Juanito is asked by El Bigote to become the sacrifice to Huitzilopochtli. Staring in fear and incomprehension, Juanito asks El Bigote why he is being called upon to be the sacrifice, especially given his loyalty to El Bigote. El Bigote promptly explains to Juanito that he never liked Juanito in the first place, and he promptly asks the remaining four Enanitos to place Juanito on the sacrificial stone block. El Bigote then calls upon the Aztec war-god and Sun-god Huitzilopochtli to share some of the power of his Fuego Azul (Blue Fire) with the five of them in exchange for the offering of Juanito's organs, skeleton, and some of his flesh. El Bigote then proceeds to flay Juanito's flesh from his bones, leaving only his head, his organs, his skeleton, his extremities, and some of the meat on his body. The Fuego Azul then emanates from the top of the Templo Mayor. The Enanitos are surrounded by the blue light that looks like a flame, and soon they are turned into giants, which causes El Bigote to amusingly refer to them as "Gigantes Terribles." El Bigote himself finds that, along with the blue light surrounding him, his moustache can act as a whip. Having discovered their new powers, the group leave Juanito to his fate. Meanwhile, back in the Bar Azteca, a scared bar patron notices the blue light coming from the Templo Mayor and urges everyone to run. Shortly thereafter, El Tigre de Plata finds that he can lift El Serpiente Negro entirely too easily, and that El Serpiente Negro is in fact asleep. He manages to startle El Serpiente Negro awake, but El Serpiente Negro begs for El Tigre de Plata's mercy and claims to have had a horrible nightmare about British American forces relentlessly coming after him with muskets. El Tigre de Plata takes pity on him and puts him down. Soon after, they both notice each other is surrounded by a blue flaming light. Meanwhile, there are blue fire-lights surrounding Bogotá, Lima, Rio de Janeiro, and many other cities in Gran Colombia. Back in the Bar Azteca, most of the patrons are panicking due to the blue light surrounding them. Enter Adán, the self-aware steampunk robot-with-flesh known to locals as el Monstruo de Tenochtitlán, and his creator. His creator is panicking after having seen the lucha-libre-gone-wrong. In the midst of this panic, Adán's creator levitates him, which prompts Adán to ask him to stop the levitation and simply think. Enter Rascar Cápac, a long-haired, cloaked bar patron, obviously from one of the ancient tribes indigenous to the Americas. He witnesses the strange events, and then he freezes as if shocked by a sound inaudible to others. After his initial shock he is seen to be whispering to the bar patrons. Afterwards, all but the bar staff and the soon-to-be-formed band of heroes return to their homes, presumably in order to contemplate their seemingly labyrinthine futures. Soon after the mass exodus from the Bar Azteca, El Serpiente Negro takes Rascar Capac to one side and has a very private conversation with him. During this conversation, El Serpiente Negro is seen to repeatedly genuflect and utter, "¡Ay Dios mío!", indicating that what Rascar Capac has told him is a great shock. They return from their chat in order to converse with the small group assembled. They are all curious about the blue fire-light that came from the Templo Mayor. Rascar Capac explains to the assembled group that El Fuego Azul contains powers given to the people of Gran Colombia by the gods, and that they must use their powers cautiously and with wisdom. The group suddenly find themselves simultaneously: curious about the provenance of the new-found powers; and desirous of revenge on the gringos of British America for stealing much of Gran Colombia's land in the War of British Aggression of 1820 (Adán's creator now desires to make more machines like Adán at some point in the future, in order to aid any future Reconquista). Wishing to set aside their increased patriotic fervour for the moment and focus on the more immediate issue, the group decide to head to the Templo Mayor to investigate the source of the new powers. As they ascend to the top of the Templo Mayor, El Tigre de Plata discovers the remains of Juanito's body, at which point Rascar Capac has a vision of El Bigote's aforementioned ritual. He shares the vision with the group. They decide to pursue El Bigote, and they proceed to investigate the trail of blood, which leads partially down the steps on the other side of the temple but soon stops cold. With no other clues to guide them, the heroes descend the steps and walk toward the nearest bridge connecting Old Town Tenochtitlán with Tenochtitlán City. En route to the bridge, they find footsteps, not from El Bigote but not from dwarves either; they conclude that the Enanitos turned into Gigantes (Giants). Further footsteps lead back into Tenochtitlán; along the way one of the Gigantes is found dead, seemingly strangled by a rope. It seems as though El Bigote may have had an altercation with one of his many formidable enemies. The footprint trail leads to a seedy part of Tenochtitlán, mainly with run-down buildings, houses, and bars. the heroes encounter a well-worn bar called La Paloma Blanca (The White Dove), complete with faded dove designs on either side, both of which are carrying faded olive branches. El Tigre de Plata cracks open the door slightly, and inside he discovers poverty-stricken patrons and several well-known local mafiosos; he convinces them to enter the bar with him on the strength of someone in this bar knowing the whereabouts of El Bigote. Don Sombrero (Sir Hat) - a mafioso with a respectable black hat, black boots, black suit, and long moustache - asks the obvious strangers what they want. Speaking for the group, El Tigre de Plata asks to know the whereabouts of El Bigote. After a bit of back-and-forth - during which Don Sombrero unsuccessfully tries to convince the heroes to track down El Bigote as paid employees, and Adán and Rascar Capac unsuccessfully try to convince Don Sombrero that altruistically joining forces is in their mutual interest given that El Bigote is their common enemy - Don Sombrero refers the band of heroes to Don Venganza (Sir Revenge), a man who might be able to help the heroes track down El Bigote. The heroes approach Don Venganza, a tall, slender man with a sullen countenance and clothes very similar to those of Don Sombrero. He is willing to give them knowledge of El Bigote's whereabouts, but only if they return with what remains of Juanito's body within one hour (news of El Bigote's sacrificial murder of Juanito has already spread like wildfire by the time the heroes arrive at La Paloma Blanca). The heroes agree to undertake the task and proceed to the Templo Mayor. Adán is charged with picking up Juanito's remains in a large bag made of leather. Apart from the occasional local screaming, genuflecting, and exclaiming, "¡Ay Dios mío!" at Adán's more hunchbacked appearance, nothing stops the heroes from returning with Juanito's remains, minus heart; they all agree (based on El Serpiente Negro's advice that Don Venganza is hiding ulterior motives with the body, perhaps along the lines of necromancy) that Don Venganza isn't trustworthy, so Rascar Capac keeps the heart for himself. When they return with the remains, Don Venganza is impressed with their state, barring the absence of Juanito's heart. Deciding to play two villains against one another, the heroes speculate that El Bigote must have taken Juanito's heart for his own nefarious purposes, which seems to make Don Venganza's blood boil. He tells them El Bigote's hideout is North of Tenochtitlán, hidden in one of the hills or mountains although he does not know its precise location. Having no other information to aid them, the heroes thank Don Venganza for his help and head North in search of El Bigote's hideout. Meanwhile, President Benito Juarez secretly meets with Vice President Simón Bolívar III and Secretary of the Armed Forces of Gran Colombia Felipe Domingo, in order to discuss the implications of the people's newly acquired powers. Juarez demonstrates his own powers by disappearing and reappearing. He briefly appears in Windsor Palace, New London, and stares at the Empress of British America for a few seconds before disappearing. He then returns to the Federal Building of Tenochtitlán, to Domingo's amazement. Juarez reassures Domingo that the Gran Colombian Armed Forces can be as powerful, and he instructs Domingo to train and prepare them for a new war against British America, the Reconquista that will serve as revenge for the War of British Aggression of 1820.